Post-traumatic Orbital Abscess in an Adult With No Evidence of Orbital Fracture, Paranasal Sinusitis, or Foreign Body Migration.

A 35-year-old man was hit against his left eye by his child's foot. Two days following trauma, the patient noticed diplopia in the upward and right gazes. On the first examination seven days after trauma, computed tomographic (CT) images revealed a small mass in the inferolateral orbit near the inferior orbital fissure. There was no radiological evidence of orbital fracture, paranasal sinusitis, or foreign body. Immediately after the first examination, the patient had a history of fever, retrobulbar pain, and nausea. These symptoms gradually worsened, and the patient visited the emergency department of our hospital at 13 days following trauma. CT images showed enlargement in the size of the mass. The diagnosis of the orbital abscess was made, and emergent drainage of the abscess was performed, followed by administration of intravenous antibiotics. On the fifth postoperative day, cultures of the abscess specimen showed growth of Fusobacterium nucleatum (4+), Parvimonas micra (4+), and Prevotella intermedia (4+). The patient's condition improved significantly and at the 1.5-month follow-up, the patient did not have any symptoms related to the orbital abscess.

Proliferation of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus strain H4 in BmN cells is enhanced by exchange of the F gene sequence with type strain T3.

The Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV)-based baculoviral expression vector system is among the most efficient expression vector systems for eukaryotic proteins especially when used in combination with silkworms as a host. We newly isolated a novel BmNPV strain (BmNPV H4) in Hokkaido, Japan that outperforms the type strain T3 in terms of both proliferation and expression of polyhedrin protein in silkworm larvae; however, it proliferates poorly in the BmN cell line. We inferred the gene responsible for the differences in proliferation between viral strains by quantifying amino acid similarity distances in protein functional domains and identifying highly divergent alleles between the H4 and T3 strains. Among proteins that differ markedly in functional domain sequence between H4 and T3, we identified the F gene, which encodes the F protein, as a putative cause of proliferative differences between the two strains. Using recombinant viruses with the F protein-coding sequence exchanged between H4 and T3, we determined that the T3 F protein increases H4 proliferation in BmN while the H4 F protein does not improve T3 proliferation in silkworm larvae. Our results suggest that the BmNPV F protein can strongly affect viral proliferation in a genetic background-specific manner and may be an important target for manipulating the proliferation characteristics of BmNPV-based expression vectors.

Orbital Decompression for Exorbitism and Exophthalmos in a Patient With Thyroid Eye Disease.

A 34-year-old man with Basedow disease consulted us to treat disfiguring proptosis. On examination, the patient showed right lower eyelid retraction and right inferior rectus muscle enlargement, which were consistent with thyroid eye disease. Hertel's exophthalmometric examination demonstrated proptosis of 25.5 and 24.0 mm on the right and left sides, respectively. Computed tomography (CT) images revealed absence of the sphenoid door jamb. To correct both exorbitism and exophthalmos, the patient underwent bilateral "shallow" decompression of the lateral and medial orbital walls with orbital fat removal under general anesthesia. The authors removed 2.5 and 1.0 mL of orbital fat from the inferolateral quadrant of the right and left orbits, respectively. At 3 months postoperatively, based on the measurements of the axial globe position on sagittal CT images, postoperative proptosis reductions of 7.5 and 6.5 mm were observed on the right and left sides, respectively.

Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma of the Lacrimal Sac in a Japanese Patient.

PURPOSE: To report a Japanese patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the lacrimal sac. METHODS: This is a case report of a 52-year-old Japanese woman who presented with a 3-month history of epiphora on the right side and a 1-month history of swelling on the right medial canthal area. Lacrimal sac irrigation showed patency of the lacrimal drainage system. Imaging studies revealed a lacrimal sac mass with involvement of the nasolacrimal duct. RESULTS: Histopathology and immunohistochemistry of the biopsy specimen revealed DLBCL. Systemic workup revealed no other lesion. The patient received 6 cycles of R-CHOP regimen. After completion of the 5th cycle of R-CHOP, all of the symptoms had resolved. CONCLUSION: We report a case of DLBCL in the lacrimal sac, which is the most common type of lacrimal sac lymphoma in Japan. Since DLBCL is one of the aggressive types of lymphoma, Japanese patients with lacrimal sac lymphoma tend to have a poor prognosis.

Enhancement of artificial promoter activity by ultrasound-induced oxidative stress.

We previously developed artificial promoters that were activated in response to X-ray irradiation. Sonication with 1.0MHz ultrasound that causes intracellular oxidative stress was found to activate some of these promoters though to lesser degrees. The most sensitive one among these promoters showed intensity- and duration-dependent activations by sonication. In addition, its activation by sonication was attenuated when N-acetyl cysteine was present, suggesting the involvement of intracellular oxidative stress in the activation mechanism. Improved promoters for sensitivity to X-ray irradiation were also found more sensitive to sonication. The most improved one showed 6.0 fold enhancement after sonication with 1.0MHz ultrasound at 1.0W/cm2 for 60s. This enhancement was also attenuated with the presence of N-acetyl cysteine. When stably transfected HeLa cells with the most sensitive promoter were transplanted on to mice and sonicated, luciferase activity by the promoter increased to 1.35 fold in average though it was not statistically significant compared to control. Although gene regulation in vivo by sonication was not clear, this is the first report on artificially constructed promoters responsive to ultrasound.

Construction of artificial promoters sensitively responsive to sonication in vitro.

PURPOSE: To develop artificial promoters that are activated in response to sonication and to determine these properties in vitro. METHODS: The binding sites of four transcription factors (nuclear factor-kappa B, activating protein-1, nuclear factor-Y, and CArG element binding factor A) that are activated by oxidative stress were randomly ligated and linked to a TATA-box sequence to control the luciferase gene located downstream. Transiently transfected HeLa cells from human cervical cancer with a plasmid vector containing such a gene cassette were exposed to sonication, and enhancement of luciferase expression was assessed by dual luciferase assay. RESULTS: Of 62 promoters constructed, two promoters, designated clone 31 and clone 62 promoters, showed a more than tenfold enhancement 6 h after sonication with 1-MHz ultrasound at 1.0 W/cm(2) for 60 s. These promoters were activated in a dose-dependent manner with the intensity and duration of sonication. The activation was attenuated by addition of dimethyl sulfoxide, an antioxidant, suggesting that oxidative stress was involved. The clone 31 promoter responded to each of two serial sonications. When sonicated 24 h after the first sonication, the peak of promoter enhancement was higher than that after the first sonication. CONCLUSIONS: A promoter sensitively responsive to sonication was constructed using the above method, possibly leading to the construction of a promoter of interest that could be applied for clinical use.